Initial Awards are Announced under International Training and Research Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases

BETHESDA, MD. -- The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces funding of initial awards under the new International Training and Research Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases (ITREID), a collaborative program between the FIC and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The National Institute of Dental Research and the Office of the NIH Director also contributed resources to this program.

Thirteen awards have been made to U.S. universities to extend the geographic scope of NIH research training efforts in this critical area. The long-term objective is to train teams of scientists in regions of the world that provide unique opportunities to understand the fundamental biology and epidemiology and control of emerging microbial diseases. The program focuses on research
training in the changing patterns of infectious diseases, including genetic evolution, geographic spread, and social factors such as economic development and land use. Funded projects include research training programs that encompass five major research themes: emerging and re-emerging viruses; parasitic infections; bacterial diseases; other infectious diseases of local, national, and international importance; and cross-cutting themes such as microbial resistance to drugs. Support for this grant program will total approximately $1.9 million per year over the next five years.

Dr. Philip E. Schambra, Director of the FIC, announced the awards. He noted that because of the growing health challenge posed by emerging infectious diseases, this program aims to strengthen the capacity of scientists to understand and respond to outbreaks more effectively in the collaborating countries and globally. Citing the emphasis that President Clinton has placed on the threat of emerging infectious diseases, Dr. Schambra said that the ITREID program would play an important role in the battle against emerging infections. "We expect that there will be advances in research as well as in improved domestic and international surveillance and prevention and response measures" he said, adding that "these measures respond to recommendations in the report of the National Science and Technology Council Committee on International Science, Engineering, and Technology Working Group entitled "Infectious Diseases--A Global Health Threat."

The following universities were successful applicants in the first review cycle under this program:

Johns Hopkins University (Principal Investigator, Dr. Robert Gilman) will collaborate
with institutions in Peru on projects that will focus on malaria and other parasitic and enteric
infections, general tropical medicine, epidemiology, and molecular microbiology;

University of Virginia (Principal Investigator, Dr. Richard Guerrant) will establish collaborative programs in Brazil, China, Ghana, and India in enteric infections, clinical tropical medicine, and geographical and international medicine;

Cornell University (Principal Investigator, Dr. Warren Johnson) will develop collaborations with institutions in Brazil and Haiti that focus on malaria, bacterial and other parasitic and protozoal diseases, microbial resistance to drugs, epidemiology, and virology;

Case Western Reserve University (Principal Investigator, Dr. James Kazura) will undertake collaborative projects in Kenya and Papua New Guinea to address malaria, vector borne diseases, genetic epidemiology, and molecular pathogenesis;

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Principal Investigator, Dr. Larry Laughlin) will work with colleagues in Brazil and Peru on projects related to malaria, molecular epidemiology, tropical medicine, and microbiology/immunology;

University of Maryland at Baltimore (Principal Investigator, Dr. Myron Levine) will establish collaborations with institutions in Chile, Georgia, and Mali which focus on malaria, molecular epidemiology, clinical vaccinology, and electronic surveillance methodology.

State University of New York, Albany (Principal Investigator, Dr. Dale Morse) will work with colleagues at institutions in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, and Poland that will focus on tuberculosis, epidemiology, clinical medicine, and biomedical and laboratory sciences;

University of California, Berkeley (Principal Investigator, Dr. Lee Riley) will undertake projects in collaboration with institutions in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Peru. Projects will include work on hepatitis C, multi-drug resistant infections, and bacterial and enteric diseases;

Stanford University (Principal Investigator, Dr. Peter Small) will work with colleagues at institutions in Mexico on tuberculosis, enteric infections, and emerging pathogens;

Michigan State University (Principal Investigator, Dr. Terrie Taylor) will work with colleagues in Malawi on activities that focus on malaria, chemical pathology, parasitic biochemistry, entomology, and epidemiology; and

University of Texas, Galveston (Principal Investigator, Dr. David Walker) will work with institutions in Mexico and Peru on rickettsiology, pathology, mammalogy, and entomology.